Indianapolis, Indiana – Dani Pedrosa of the Repsol Honda Team posted his 2nd victory of the 2012 MotoGP season, motorcycle racing’s most prestigious events, in the eleventh round of the tour at the Indianapolis Motorspeedway. It’s his second 1st place victory of the season and he’s the only racer to ever win the event here twice. Rival Spaniard Jorge Lorenzo of Yamaha Factory Racing leads the tour with seven more events to race, Pedrosa is in 2nd place and the reigning world champion Casey Stoner is in 3rd.

Dani Pedrosa is on fire: He’s achieved a new circuit record for the fastest lap time of 1’39.88, averaging 153.172Km/h (95.176 miles per hour), the best pole time of 153.599Km/h(95.442 miles per hour), and an amazing top speed of 335.735Km/h (206.616 miles per hour). Incredibly, Pedrosa beat out the 2nd place finisher, Lorenzo by 10.823 seconds(the longest time span of all of the Indy events.)

A native of Sabadell, Catatlonia, Spain, Pedrosa began riding motorcycles at age four and began racing for real when he was just nine. Standing 5’2” at 112 lbs., he’s one of the smallest racers competing in the grand prix class, small enough that many once doubted his ability to race at all. Pedrosa is 26 years old, compiling forty-three 1st and 2nd place career combined wins.

The battle begins: From the pole position, Dani Pedrosa would out-ride and out-smart rivals Jorge Lorenzo and Casey Stoner in the 28 lap duel. Pedrosa rose to the moment and in a burst of power, took the lead away from American Ben Spies of Yamaha Factory Racing after just two laps. Pedrosa tamed the Honda RC213V, like a warrior, beating out Lorenzo who finished in second place, + 10.823 seconds and Italian Andrea Dovizsioso of Yamaha Monster Tech 3, finishing in third place by + 17.310 seconds. Casey Stoner finished in fourth, + 19.803 seconds.

Lorenzo Leaving Pit (Photo: Robert Hsu)

Pedrosa earned the Indy victory in a time of 46’39.631 seconds, beating Casey Stoner’s 2011 time of 46’52.786 seconds and then his own 2010 time of 47’31.615 seconds. The win was particularly reaffirming for the Spaniard after set-backs from crashes and injuries.

The grand rivalry goes on: After 11 rounds of the tour, Lorenzo, Pedrosa and Stoner have point scores of 225, 205 and 187 each winning a 46, 43 and 48 combined 1st and 2nd place races. It the closest point spread, ever, in the history of the MotoGP tours.

Hayden before crash (Photo Robert Hsu)

Casualties: American Nicky Hayden, “The Kentucky Kid,” of the Ducati team crashed in practice suffering a concussion and three broken fingers. Casey Stoner high-sided his Honda RC213V in practice ending up with a broken ankle and torn ligaments but remarkably finished the entire race coming in fourth. American Ben Spies’s engine exploded after the 22nd lap, nearly ending the Indy race and British star, Cal Crutchlow crashed his bike, for the first time ever in his career, after 19 laps.

At the post-race conference, the three winners expressed their views:

Pedrosa and crew chief (Photo Robert Hsu/Latino Sports)

DANI PEDROSA: Yes, it was a good weekend, I think. The bike was working well and had a good feeling. So, yeah, today I was confident… I stayed focused. The pace was very high…everybody was running a high pace…I knew the race was long so I tried to stay focused. Yeah, the bike was working well, I have to say thank you to all my team…today we had a good race.

Pedrosa leaves pit (Photo Robert Hsu/Latino Sports)

JORGE LORENZO: Yeah, Yeah. Sometimes being second is better than a victory in certain circumstances…from the beginning we had plenty of problems…I started the race very confident trying to make a good start…from the middle of the race it was impossible to keep the same race. I had to take so many risks, and sometimes it is better to slow down and not crash…Anyway, good position, we are leading the championship still, and we come to Brno which is a much easier track that this one.

ANDREA DOVIZSIOSO: Yeah, the fifth podium is real important, especially in Indianapolis. I didn’t expect to be quite strong in this track, and my feeling with the team become always better also with the bike. So we had a good pace…Casey made a really amazing race…I like to fight with Casey because Casey is Casey… I knew he couldn’t keep that energy until at the end. And I can beat him. Anyway, another podium for us is really important.